Alien Battalion — Eric S. Brown

In the far flung future, war still wages. Soldiers still bleed, fight, and die. The Kep'at Hegemony and the Earth Alliance have spent decades locked in constant battle. Now though, the Kep'at have found a mysterious new ally that might turn the tide of the war. The Alliance has neither the ships nor the manpower to discover what they need to know about this new race that may tip the scales of war. With nowhere else to turn, the Alliance must hire the Hell's Banshees to do what they cannot. The Hell's Banshees are one of the toughest, deadliest mercenary units in known space and if anyone can get the job done, they can. But are the Hell's Banshees ready for the horrors that await them on the border planet of Ventari VII?